Longmont piano teacher ditches old methods, renews passion for music

By Whitney Bryen Longmont Times-Call

Posted:
07/13/2013 09:26:26 PM MDT

Updated:
07/13/2013 09:29:22 PM MDT

Brenda diZerega, right, the music director at Saint Stephen's Episcopal Church, helps William Shannon, center, learn to play the piano as his brother Jackson watches. diZerega has come up with a new way to teach piano that focuses on learning interesting songs rather than reading music.
(Kai Casey/Times-Call)
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Kai Casey
)

If you go

What: Free introductory piano session

When: 6:30 p.m. Wednesday

Where: St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, 1303 S. Bross Lane, Longmont

Contact: Brenda diZerega at 303-776-6651 to reserve your space.

LONGMONT -- After 19 years of giving piano lessons, Brenda diZerega saw the excitement and passion for music drain from her students and herself.

Sessions became so daunting for diZerega and her students that the longtime teacher was considering quitting despite her lifelong passion.

"Having students come in unprepared week after week and continue to move on in the method and realizing that even after books and books and books of study they did not know how to read music, that's really when I became disillusioned," diZerega said. "And I was having students coming in and not enjoying the music they were playing and that's not what it's about."

Last summer, diZerega abandoned her traditional methods and began a new curriculum that has brought joy back into the music and inspired progress in her students.

DiZerega, who is also the music director at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Longmont, became an accredited teacher of the Simply Music method last year, which uses natural rhythms, like walking, to teach students to play by ear before they learn to read music.

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"With the traditional learning method you learn to read notes, you learn how to read rhythms, and you learn how to do that at the same time and that's a lot for the brain to handle, so you have to go incredibly slow and that's boring for students," diZerega said. "With Simply Music, by the end of one lesson, students are able to play an actual song and because it sounds interesting, they're going to go home and play it over the week and practice it."

Andrew Hubbard, who is going into first grade at St. John the Baptist, began piano lessons with diZerega last summer; less than a year later he performed Beethoven's "Fur Elise" at his school's talent show.

Now, Andrew, 7, can play about 15 songs, including "Minuet in G" by J.S. Bach and "Ode to Joy" by Beethoven.

"I love learning the songs and I'm getting better and better and it's getting more and more and more fun when I get better too," Andrew said.

Andrew's mom, Regina Hubbard, said she enrolled her son in diZerega's class after hearing about the new curriculum.

The method appealed to Hubbard because her son would learn songs, rather than focus on reading music, which she hoped, would drive him to practice more.

Longmont resident Brenda diZerega helps Katelyn Wojniak, 14, learn to play the piano at Saint Stephen's Episcopal Church in Longmont. diZerega said the Simply Music method of teaching piano gets students more excited about learning.
(Kai Casey/Times-Call)
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Kai Casey
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"He plays on his own almost every day," Hubbard said. "It's not a chore for him. He loves it because he can play fun songs that he loves."

Andrew's favorite song is a blues song called "Light Blue," he said, but he also loves classical music and a song that sounds like bagpipes.

The new method has not only been more effective for young students but adults are also practicing more and making more progress between sessions, diZerega said.

Shelly Allison, 39, has been taking lessons from diZerega for about six months, and now she can play about 25 songs from memory.

Allison's 15-year-old daughter has been taking traditional piano lessons with diZerega for more than two years. Her 9-year-old son started Simply Music lessons with diZerega about two months ago, but Allison wasn't looking for professional lessons for herself.

"I'm not going to be a professional. I just wanted to sit down and play, and by the first lesson I could play an entire song, with both hands," Allison said. "I can sit down at a piano anywhere I go and play a song and I don't need a book because they're all in my head and it's just really, really fun."

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